Unreported World

Jamaica's Underground Gays (2014x7)

Air date: May 23, 2014

In an eye-opening episode, reporter Ade Adepitan and director Andrew Carter travel to Kingston to investigate the growth of homophobic attacks in Jamaica and to meet the gay and transgender group who've ended up living in a storm drain, where they suffer shocking violence, attacks and insults because of their sexuality. Jamaica has a reputation for intolerance of homosexuality. Male gay sex is punishable by 10 years' hard labour and violent hostility is entrenched in the island's culture. Unreported World meets one group of gay and transgender people who are now living in a gully, which is usually designed to carry floodwater and rubbish from the city. It's hot, crowded, infested and filthy. But it's the only place these 25 people can call home. There are no facilities: cooking and washing-up are done in the gutter. Water comes from a broken pipe under a road bridge. And it's not in a poor part of town, but in the middle of New Kingston, the capital's business district. Most homosexuals in Jamaica work hard to hide their sexuality. Those who are openly 'out' are in the firing line. Krissy, who's 21, was born male but believes her true gender is female. She says she didn't feel safe expressing this at home, so she's lived on the streets on and off since she was 12. Apart from her sister, she hasn't seen most of her family for years. Krissy tells Adepitan that together with other homeless gay and transgender friends, she initially lived in a squat. But, under pressure from the neighbours, the site's owner chased the group away and levelled the place. They went from squat to squat, being moved on each time by police or landlords, and eventually ended up at the gully. Many of those living in the gully didn't finish school, and without an address it's difficult to get a job. Sachaberry, who has been homeless for two years, says the only way she can make a living is by selling her body. But it's a dangerous business. She tells Adepitan that o